Launch of the Inter-Regional Report on Gender Equality and Political Empowerment of Women

The International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (International IDEA), together with the Community of Democracies and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), will launch the Inter-Regional Report on Gender Equality and Political Empowerment of Women on 5 December 2017, in...

Facebook Live Discussion on the Role of Male Champions in Promoting Women's Political Participation and Leadership

Co-organized by iKNOW Politics and International Gender Champions, this Facebook Live discussion brought together a diverse panel of Geneva-based Gender Champions who shared their experiences and views on the role of male champions in promoting women’s political participation and leadership....

Brexit will affect whole population yet there is only one woman in the core negotiating team, Labour MPs say.
Theresa May has been urged to review the gender balance of the government’s EU negotiating team in a letter signed by 56 female Labour MPs who say: “Brexit is now becoming just another job...

Using data to bridge the gender gap
Globally, women make up 49.7% of the population but hold only 22% of public offices. The Women in Public Service Project Data Portal seeks to answer why this is so, and how to increase the percentage of women in public office to 50% by 2050.
Click here to visit...

The Women in Public Service Project’s “50 x 50” initiative has a new tool to help chart a course toward its goal of gender equality in decision-making positions in public service by 2050. A growing data base on global women’s leadership can now be accessed at data.50x50movement.org. The Wilson...

French President Emmanuel Macron has unveiled a gender-balanced cabinet in accordance with an earlier pledge, with 11 of 22 posts taken by women.
Sylvie Goulard is defence minister while Olympic fencing champion Laura Flessel is sports minister.
Bruno Le Maire is economy minister, Gérard Collomb is...

The IPU developed both the concept and definition of gender-sensitive parliaments and has been at the forefront of supporting gender-sensitive parliamentary reform. On 20 April, the Feminist Group of the Finnish Parliament held a meeting in Helsinki on gender equality in parliaments. At the meeting...

Shaping the International Agenda: Raising Women’s Voices in Intergovernmental Forums

Business as usual is not an option. To fulfil the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, including Sustainable Development Goal 5 on achieving gender equality and empowering all women and girls, concrete actions and intensified commitments to improve women’s participation and representation are...

No more business as usual: UN seeks to raise women’s participation in intergovernmental forums

UN Women will launch a publication titled “Shaping the international agenda: Raising women’s voices in intergovernmental forums” at a high-level event in New York on 2 May, 2017.
Women’s participation and leadership make for better policies. Yet, as of April 2017, in only 16 countries did a woman...

Hon. Dr. Jessie Kabwila is a politician, academic, and feminist. Member of Parliament in Malawi, she is currently the Chairperson of the Women Parliamentary Caucus.
iKNOW Politics: In 2014, the incumbent female president Joyce Banda lost the presidency and the number of women parliamentarians...

What impact is the snap Election having on the selection of female candidates? With less than 7 weeks to go some parties are changing the way they're choosing who'll contest seats. Will women win or lose out on better representation at Westminster?
Joining presenter Jane Garvey, Conservative MP...

"Politics needs more women" says Nirmala Sitharaman, Indian Minister of State for Commerce and Industry

The Union Minister of State for Commerce and Industry Nirmala Sitharaman Saturday said the politics needs more women. Participating in an interactive session with members of Young Ficci Ladies Organisation here, Sitharaman said, “This (politics) may not be the first choice profession for women. In...

Book on Financing for Gender Equality: Realising Women’s Rights through Gender Responsive Budgeting

This collection of essays addresses the glaring gap between policy commitments and actual investments in gender equality, ranging across sectors and focusing on development aid, peace-building and climate funds. Casting a spotlight on the application of gender-responsive budgeting in public...

The IPU held several events during the first week of the 61st session of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW), which took place in New York from 13 to 24 March.
IPU Secretary General Martin Chungong and the UN Women Executive Director Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka held a joint press conference on...

The introduction of a quota system in the political landscape to facilitate a greater number of women at all levels of politics, has been shunned by a group of young men, majority of whom stated that gender presented no barrier to political aspirations.
The group voiced their opinions Tuesday at...

African perspectives on gender equality and political empowerment of women

By Luis José Consuegra
Education, increased awareness on the need to have women running for political leadership positions, overcoming traditional challenges based on stereotypes and understanding the difference between having quotas and having substantive participation of women are some of the...

The Price of Power: Power Seeking and Backlash Against Female Politicians

In an effort to address the persistent gender gap at the highest levels of political office, this study investigates one of the stereotype-based social costs that women face as political candidates. Because power and power-seeking are central to the way masculinity is socially constructed and...